Bush: Intelligent Design or Devious Scheme?

[xMinionX]

What in the world are you talking about. It is and has been for a very long time that lib's run the public schools. That is why they are failing. The answer to our pathetic public education? Get rid of the left wing teachers and get rid of the left wing curriculum. That'll do it.

You know, when people say things like this, I have to wonder to myself: When was the last time this person was actually in a public school? Have you actually seen the curriculum? No, no, not the sex-ed, that's a different debate. The basics, I mean. The math, the science, the social studies, the english. Most of this stuff is pretty non-partisan. I mean, honestly. You can't liberalize trigonomotry or tech class.

And before someone jumps on me, I work in the public school system. So the last time I was in a public school was about two months ago, and I'll be there again in about a month.

 

[k9catts]

By teaching only ID, the exit exams mandated by NCLB would be very easy. Bubble in the "God said so" selection and everyone would pass.

Send them out to the world with diploma in hand and say God be with you and good luck.

You know, when people say things like this, I have to wonder to myself: When was the last time this person was actually in a public school? Have you actually seen the curriculum? No, no, not the sex-ed, that's a different debate. The basics, I mean. The math, the science, the social studies, the english. Most of this stuff is pretty non-partisan. I mean, honestly. You can't liberalize trigonomotry or tech class.

And before someone jumps on me, I work in the public school system. So the last time I was in a public school was about two months ago, and I'll be there again in about a month.

 

[PACKY]

Hmmm...This is the same man who has fallen off a Segway ( they are not easy to tip) his bike several times and choked on a pretzel....is that the work of a Intelligent creator??

" Is our children learning"....GW BUSH

 

[Fineous_Reese]

Hmmm...This is the same man who has fallen off a Segway ( they are not easy to tip) his bike several times and choked on a pretzel....is that the work of a Intelligent creator??

" Is our children learning"....GW BUSH

hey now, where's the uniting?

i guess you don't think it's a devious scheme if W's not even bright enough to stay on a segway

 

[xMinionX]

hey now, where's the uniting?

i guess you don't think it's a devious scheme if W's not even bright enough to stay on a segway

I don't knock him for falling off a Segway. Those things are weird to ride. I didn't fall, but I stumbled off of one at a demo they had at a local mall.

 

[k9catts]

Where is the uniting?

Ask the "uniter, not a divider" president.

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. - Susan B. Anthony
The news has been cancelled. – Randi Rhodes AAR

hey now, where's the uniting?

i guess you don't think it's a devious scheme if W's not even bright enough to stay on a segway

 

[PACKY]

hey now, where's the uniting?

i guess you don't think it's a devious scheme if W's not even bright enough to stay on a segway

I dont think he came up with the Scheme one of his masters..err..Advisors helped out..

 

[Fa'Head]

Penmanship and cursive are both just about useless these days. Writing anything important and/or long by pen/pencil is like trying to eat your cereal with a butter knife. I'll give you the spelling, but I think that's beyond the teacher's control. I received the same education as a friend of mine, yet I am far better at spelling than he is. We went to the same schools, we had similar teachers, we just came out differently. I personally have more of an interest in learning how to spell words than he does. This interest can't be ground into children, so those who aren't good at spelling will just have to find a lifestyle that doesn't require that they be able to spell very good.

I get what you are saying. I should have been a little more elaborate with my intended meaning. When I worked during the day I was able to take the time and study with my son and he did very good on his spelling test as a result. Unfortunately I work nights now and can't help him and what's obvious to me is that his teacher doesn't either.

He'll turn in some paper to his english class and when it's returned you'll discover it's been graded strictly based on the assignment. There are no marks pointing out his spelling or punctuation errors. As long as the main body of the assignment is turned in then that peripheral stuff doesn't seem to matter. Also, his papers are often not very legible but that doesn't seem to matter either. When I was in school my teachers would point out these errors for me and if you couldn't read my paper, then I had to do it over.

I'm also aggravated by the TAKS test, Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Sure, it's good to know where our kids stand, but this test is so important that achieving good results has become primary. Many schools have been accused of cheating on this test, in various ways. Also, they take so much time studying strictly for this test. Sure, the kids will learn something, but it's aggravating to know that they are studying for this test specifically and not so much for the child's overall education.

 

[IrishJohan]

And before someone jumps on me, I work in the public school system. So the last time I was in a public school was about two months ago, and I'll be there again in about a month.

I sincerely hope they have vastly improved history. When I was in high school their curriculuum was a joke and as I learned things later on that omitted from history text I was quite angry. We spent time on trivial matters to make people feel better about themselves than on real history. Part of what made me angry was the fact that there were significant events that would seem to fit into the PC goal but were still omitted. For example, there was nothing about the Amistad and the fact that the case this generated was the most significant prior to Dred Scott on slavery. I hope it is included now because I was quite irked to know nothing about this until Speilberg put out his film in the early 1990s. Okay film, the books that came out by historians on the matter though were better.

Pax Christi,
John

 

[the_cheat]

He'll turn in some paper to his english class and when it's returned you'll discover it's been graded strictly based on the assignment. There are no marks pointing out his spelling or punctuation errors. As long as the main body of the assignment is turned in then that peripheral stuff doesn't seem to matter. Also, his papers are often not very legible but that doesn't seem to matter either. When I was in school my teachers would point out these errors for me and if you couldn't read my paper, then I had to do it over.

I teach English in a Texas middle school, so maybe I can shed a bit of light. Personally, I think a lot of the ELA instruction has swung too far to the unstructured side of the spectrum. The general trend of most teachers is to focus more on content than on grammatical perfection, which is superb, but some are becoming a little too lax, I think. This is a direct reaction to the fact that the TAAS (the TAKS' precursor) required this forumlaic writing, and the schools were therefore churning out all these students who could write robotically perfect, but with little creativity, power or voice. I personally don't harp on spelling or penmanship, since the truth is that, in this day and age, the computer pretty much takes care of that for you. Poor punctuation can be a real impediment to understanding, though, since the same sentence punctuated different ways carries different meanings, so we do work quite a bit on punctuation rules.

I'm also aggravated by the TAKS test, Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Sure, it's good to know where our kids stand, but this test is so important that achieving good results has become primary. Many schools have been accused of cheating on this test, in various ways. Also, they take so much time studying strictly for this test. Sure, the kids will learn something, but it's aggravating to know that they are studying for this test specifically and not so much for the child's overall education.

I loathe the TAKS test. It's better than TAAS, but all these tests are just fueling the idiocy rampant in our districts. Some teachers spend more time doing test prep than actually teaching their subjects. Last year, I did no test prep whatsoever and devoted all of my in-class time to enjoying and understanding literature and language, and my kids' test scores improved significantly...it's ironic that by trying to prepare for the test, the school districts are actually shooting themselves on the foot.

 

[Mongoose]

What in the world are you talking about. It is and has been for a very long time that lib's run the public schools. That is why they are failing. The answer to our pathetic public education? Get rid of the left wing teachers and get rid of the left wing curriculum. That'll do it.

Schools don't fail students. Students fail schools.

(for most of the part, anyway)

Edit: WELL okay, maybe I'm not completely sure about this, because I'd have to assume that a child is considered rationally confident, which is an issue I'm undecided on. Yes, call me a flip-flopper. That is what happens when you try to "question everything."

But I do know that blaming the failure of schools on a "liberal agenda" is partisan rubbish.

 

[PACKY]

Schools don't fail students. Students fail schools.

(for most of the part, anyway)

even more Importantly schools dont fail students PARENTS fail students...
It is unfortunate that besides trying to teach children schools have the now unsavory task of parenting children as well.

 

[Mongoose]

even more Importantly schools dont fail students PARENTS fail students...
It is unfortunate that besides trying to teach children schools have the now unsavory task of parenting children as well.

Yeah. That too.

 

[MidnightBlue]

Penmanship and cursive are both just about useless these days. Writing anything important and/or long by pen/pencil is like trying to eat your cereal with a butter knife.

I didn't learn penmanship 35-40 years ago, either, and I always wished I had. I have postcards written to my great-great-grandparents by their grandson 90 years ago, when he was a teenager, and they're written in beautiful copperplate script. Amazing. We never had the lessons for that kind of thing. Well, as far as that goes, we never had the fountain pens, either.

 

[xMinionX]

Penmanship and cursive are both just about useless these days. Writing anything important and/or long by pen/pencil is like trying to eat your cereal with a butter knife.

That's fortunate. I have worse handwriting than most seven year olds, and several seven year olds have pointed this out.

 

[TheBear]

So Bush is pushing to intelligent design... in public schools. But expensive private schools will continue to teach kids actual information. Is this a scheme to ensure the poor stay poor, as the only education they can afford (free) becomes more and more twisted and inferior?

I think your conclusion is a little over the top.

The way I see it, Bush is not science-minded. The concept of how science works is beyond his grasp. Add to that his religious zealousness, and you have an easy mark to sell this bill of goods. I don't think Bush came up with this idea at all. I think it was easily sold to him by religious groups.

just my .02

 

[xMinionX]

I think your conclusion is a little over the top.

The way I see it, Bush is not science-minded. The concept of how science works is beyond his grasp. Add to that his religious zealousness, and you have an easy mark to sell this bill of goods. I don't think Bush came up with this idea at all. I think it was easily sold to him by religious groups.

just my .02

That's believable.

 

[Arnold_Philips]

Because if he said anything else, his approval rating would slip even lower than 42%.

 

[jpatt93]

Simply put; it doesn't matter. Let's get back to parental responsibilty. Parents, the responsibility rest on your shoulders to ensure that your sons and daughters receive a quality education. Morals and values should be instilled at home. We can not expect the federal government to enforce school standards. It takes the people in the communities to pressure their schools to excell. If there is no voice from the community, why should we expect change. Waiting on the Fed to fix the problem will and has not worked. The time is now for the people to rise up and take back our education system. ID vs evolution is nothing more than a side show to get the Evangelical Right and Extreme Liberals in a fuss while we in the middle must listen to their extremisms. I believe there is a proverb that says "train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he will not depart". I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point. Parents must do their job.